Project Profile

This IGERT program offers a nationally-unique, comprehensive package of new and tested approaches to graduate education in materials chemistry and physics. It is designed to prepare the next generation of graduate students for the challenges of an increasingly... more »

This IGERT program offers a nationally-unique, comprehensive package of new and tested approaches to graduate education in materials chemistry and physics. It is designed to prepare the next generation of graduate students for the challenges of an increasingly interdisciplinary and rapidly evolving research and development arena. The research and education activities of this IGERT program are unified by the study of the structure/property relationships in electronic and optical materials whose properties are dominated by their nanoscale structure. The proposed research builds upon established activities in three major thrust areas to address the: (i) synthesis and properties of superlattice materials; (ii) preparation and study of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles, quantum dots and assemblies; and (iii) fabrication and properties of molecular assemblies. These research topics provide outstanding opportunities for interdisciplinary graduate training because both the chemistry and physics of short-length-scale systems are intertwined. This initiative has received wide-ranging support within the University and among our industrial affiliates because it provides a multidisciplinary research experience, stimulates industrial/academic relations and prepares students to be successful participants in diverse and changing job markets. Our student-focused program is designed to address three goals: (i) help each student acquire diverse, adaptable and portable technical skills and the knowledge base to succeed in rapidly evolving career markets; (ii) help each student develop the critical thinking skills necessary to solve complex problems and understand new phenomena; and (iii) provide each student with comprehensive career training, i.e. development of professional skills, exposure to many career opportunities, and training tailored to specific career paths. To achieve these goals, a comprehensive and fully integrated graduate training program has been developed. Key activities of the training program include: new interdisciplinary courses, core engineering courses, research rotations during the first year, interdisciplinary research opportunities, targeted internships in industry or academia, and comprehensive career preparation.

IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing new, innovative models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fourth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-two institutions for programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. The intellectual foci of this specific award reside in the Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Engineering; and Education and Human Resources. « less

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